The real reason Yelp Day was yanked

We told you yesterday about Mayor Gavin Newsom’s last-minute refusal to name the day in honor of Yelp – the Web site that allows anybody to review just about anything – even though the proclamation praising the company was all drawn up and ready to go.

Turns out the reason for the rejection was related to Prop. 8. Doesn’t it seem like everything’s related to Prop. 8 these days?

Thomas J. Gibbons/Special to the Chronicle

Matthew Goudeau, left, gives Yelp a bad review.

Shortly after Californians banned same-sex marriage, Yelpers angry about the outcome started giving bad reviews to businesses whose owners donated to the Yes on 8 side and encouraging boycotts – even if they’d never actually patronized the restaurant or shop in question.

Yelp, whose founders voted against Prop. 8, removed those reviews and said political discussion was welcome elsewhere on the site.

“We’ve always maintained that the reviews of businesses on Yelp should be reviews of the customer experience, not the political leaning or voting record of a business owner or its employees,” Stephanie Ichinose, spokeswoman for Yelp, told City Insider.

The removal of reviews didn’t sit well with Matthew Goudeau, director of the mayor’s Office of Protocol and a then-frequent user of Yelp. He forwarded us an e-mail exchange he had last month with Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s co-founder.

Stoppelman told Goudeau it was akin to somebody opposed to foie gras giving bad reviews to all restaurants that use the controversial pate, even if they’d never dined at the establishments.

“I am not foie gras. I am a person. No comparison between the two,” Goudeau shot back. “People should have the right to know what businesses supported the inclusion of hate and discrimination into California’s constitution.”

Goudeau canceled his Yelp account and encouraged his friends to do the same. He stressed he did this all on his own time and not in any official capacity, but when he heard the mayor was about to name a day after Yelp, he told chief of staff Steve Kawa about his concerns.

Nathan Ballard, Newsom’s press secretary, said the mayor was aware of the controversy and opted to stay away, especially after making national news last year for naming a day after a gay porn studio and almost naming a day after Snoop Dogg a few months later.

For the record, Newsom’s Yelp ratings have gone down a whole half-star since snatching Yelp Day away. “I hope I never see that boyishly cute face of yours,” wrote Elise M. of Los Angeles who gave him just one star out of five. “How DARE you take away our Yelp Day?!”